USA 6-0 Guatemala

The United States Men's National Team ended up routing Guatemala in Friday night's friendly after a deluge of goals in an extremely open second half. This was the perfect tune-up ahead of Tuesday's opening Gold Cup match against Belize where we will be looking to replicate our high tempo from the second half. Here are my thoughts from the game, in no particular order:

• The first 40 minutes of this game were extremely sluggish and dull. In short, it looked like our team was playing its first game in a while, which is exactly what it was. Players were rusty and trying to establish chemistry with others and that's to be expected. We played at a really slow pace with not much penetration going forward from the midfield. Things started getting better at the end of the first half, including Jose Francisco Torres's nice ball that eventually found an open Herculez Gomez at the far post for the first goal.
• In case you didn't know, I have to say/type "Jose Francisco Torres" every time I am referring to Jose Francisco Torres. It's just a thing a friend and I do so now you know for future reference.
• The tempo of the game really picked up in the second half with the halftime introductions of Stu Holden and Mix Diskerud  in the midfield. They were able to assert themselves and play positive forward passes to the forwards and wingers, something that was lacking in the first half with Beckerman and Jose Francisco Torres. Brek Shea was also very lively when he was introduced in the  second half.
• Joe Corona was pretty meh for me, don't really have much to say on him.
• Damarcus Beasley and Edgar Castillo combined pretty well on the left a couple of times in the first half. I personally don't really rate Castillo from what I've seen of him wearing the Stars and Stripes. Maybe he would've done better in the second half while playing with Stu and Mix.
• Gooch and Clarence were solid when they had to be, which wasn't that often as we dominated possession for most of the game. I enjoyed seeing Clarence get some top net action on his goal. Not much to say for them, there will be bigger tests coming. Same goes for Rimando - solid when called upon, which wasn't too often.
• Parkhurst wasn't spectacular but he wasn't terrible either. Not much to say from me on him tonight.
• Big congrats to Alejandro Bedoya and Wondo for scoring their first goals with the USMNT.
• Ladies and gentlemen, Stuart Holden is back. He looked absolutely fantastic tonight and made an immediate impact when coming on at halftime. His assist to Donovan and pass to Brek that eventually led to Bedoya's goal were two of the sexiest passes I've seen in a while. He also had a pretty ball to Will Bruin that should've been a goal if not for the striker's bad first touch. He'll be starting soon enough in the Gold Cup with that form. Stu is back for the USMNT and it feels good, man.

Photo credit: soccerbyives.net

• Mix better be cap-tied on Tuesday. Enough of this Norway nonsense.
• I'll go ahead and say it: Herculez Gomez is one of my favorite humans on the planet, just not one of my favorite footballers. I know he got a goal but I just don't think he's THAT good. He's a hard worker and will finish a wide open chance but to me he doesn't have any special, game-changing qualities. But then again, we don't really have anyone else after Jozy. What do you think?
• Landon Donovan is still one of, if not the best player in the USMNT pool. His IQ, movement, passing, and finishing are still at an extremely high level and he makes everyone around him better. He should and will be starting in Brazil next year.

All in all this was a fun game (half) to watch but we need to remember this was a home friendly against Guatemala. But we were looking to play attacking, creative football, which is exactly what we did in the second half. Hopefully that form carries over to Tuesday and the rest of the Gold Cup.